No one promised that life would be a rose garden. I don’t subscribe to a particular or singular philosophy of life, and it’s probably too late in the game to go searching for one. Adopting a philosophy is much easier looking back than looking forward.
Most of what I use as my personal philosphical views of life were learned back in kindergarten. Seriously.
Robert Fulghum merely reminded us of what we learned already but probably forgot as we matured.
The more mature we are, the more we remembered and applied what was taught in kindergarten. The less mature among us are called adults.
For example, in kindergarten we were taught to share, play fair, put things back where you found them, clean up your own mess.
As adults, we learn to get and keep what’s not ours, play hard ball, get others to clean up for us.
In kindergarten we were taught to say you’re sorry when you hurt someone, wash your hands before you eat, and flush. Many adults can barely manage two out of three.
Like Prego, it’s all in there. Kindergarten preaches the Golden Rule, love, and basic sanitation. Politics, equality and ecology. It’s all in there.
So too is what happens to goldfish, hamsters, and white mice. They all die. So do we.
Despite the influences of kindergarten on my adult life, I’ve managed to pick up a few other appendages for my belief system.
Life’s a bitch, then you die. And the Bell Curve. Both go hand in hand.
For the vast majority of humans, life is difficult; a struggle against ourselves and one another, and the world around us. Though we may have a measure of prosperity (and there’s a wide range of what constitutes prosperity), the tenants of the Bell Curve hold true.
Life is very good, full, rich for a blessed few, a struggle for most, and pure wretched pain for a few. In the end, death for all.
Well paid, experienced, and comparably educated medical professionals tell me that my struggle to move from the most populous, middle territory of the Bell Curve to the more prosperous, less populated end of the Bell is about to end.
Based on how I feel today and recently, that may be the case. Again. Interestingly enough, despite the advanced degrees and more advanced medical equipment, they’ve been wrong before.
The Bell Curve philosophy would dictate that they’ll be wrong again, though few admit such a possibility.
Sooner or later, we all become like the goldfish, hamsters, and white mice of kindergarten. We all die. We cannot choose otherwise.
Somewhere between kindergarten and the far reaches of our lives as earthbound goldfish, hamsters, and white mice, we make decisions which may affect our lives within the confines of the Bell Curve.
For some, appropriate choices mean movement from one end of the Curve to the other. For some, certain choices in life may mean a lower spot on the Curve.
For most, life’s just a bitch, then you die. Since kindergarten I’ve learned that there is some latitude in the former, none in the latter.
Tera writes——————————————
“For the vast majority of humans, life is difficult; a struggle against ourselves and one another, and the world around us…..
Life is very good, full, rich for a blessed few…..”
———————————————————
Aren’t you angry at the “vast majority of humans”? You have struggles… genuine struggles that you didn’t create, I have different ratios in mind, and I feel that the vast majority of people, (Because I have been one of them), create their own struggles. You, on the other hand, can rightfully can own the “Wretched pain” and the “Struggle” category, with any words you choose, and by that, dismiss the “Apparent struggles of the masses” – I would.
I’m a dark person. Kindergarden, disfunction, rejection, failure ?? perhaps it’s just my nature, struggling with the world, feeling the burdens of debt, loneliness, misfortunes, all circling around my unique universe, in how the world relates to me.
My “Struggles with the world” ? – The closer I get to bankruptcy, the bigger the pit in my stomach. The more time that elapses, since the breakup of the girl I love – the darker the world becomes. Poor me, and my struggles. God forbid anything happen to me, or my loved ones.
Then… my father got cancer, I Crushed my hand, needing 2 surgeries to reconstruct, (I’m a guitarist for a living), My father died, and I legitimately, after the hand injury… went bankrupt.
You know what? I can’t begin to explain it… Somehow… everything is different. Nothing in the world has changed, it’s all the same.
I lost my father before his time, he’s never coming back, I lost my business, my hand seizes up a bit here and there, and the girl is Gone, gone gone, but I… me, dark ass… love waking up. suddenly, the “Difficult struggles against ourselves, one another, and the world around us” simply, easily, and in an instant, was put in a perspective, that is hard to explain.
I simply “Walked away” from them, because I am the only one who “Made them what they are” and “What they represented to me”
Tera, I get it, and knowing your personal struggles that you’ve shared with us, I can’t offer the “Vast majority of people” validity on their struggles, you get a much less populated category for your struggles, the rest of the “vast majority” that I’ve evicted from this category, just need to wake up, and love waking up in the morning.
Even if life is a bitch… you love, grow, change the world you live in, one moment at a time, are loved…. and THEN you die.
Most of life is fortuitous happenstance, perhaps all of it is. Maybe someday that will not be the case, but I am not so sure that would be an improvement. Tera, I suspect that in kindergarten you probably did not play well with others. Keep trying. Be the small crack in the Bell Curve. If only for the rest of us.
All I can say, all I can do, is agree with you and wish it weren’t so.
I’m glad they were wrong before, and I hope they are again.
“Even if life is a bitch?Ķ you love, grow, change the world you live in, one moment at a time, are loved…. and THEN you die.”
Nice. And in your case, too- this website, Mac 360,
your wisdom, inspiration, and all that you do, this too is true.
Tera, Stuff the Bell Curve, you’ve made a difference to many peoples lives. Hang in there kid, we’re rooting for you.
Fortune can be great or it can be crap, we have no control. All that we have is to live by our choices. That’s where freedom lives.
Tera, I’m not giving up on you yet. Miracles can and do happen. And they should happen to special people like you. You who have touched so many people’s lives. You who have given family and friends and the world-wide Mac community so much pleasure and entertainment. Bless you for that. We are all rooting and praying for you.
*Hugs*
Tera,
The value of a life, it seems to me, is not in either the ease or struggle associated with it. Instead, it is valuable in the amount and quality of its connectedness to others. You are very connected to people. I wish they could be more helpful in your struggle. You have enriched my life with your writing, insight, and perceptions. I actually considered myself a Mac expert until I starting reading Mac 360. You didn’t know it but part of you has been invested in me. I am not sure this makes the struggle easier but I wanted you to know nonetheless.
Liam